Heart of Darkness Books

... I reread Heart of Darkness because my "guys" reading group included two who had not ever read it. The story stands up far, far better than I would have guessed. Conrad is really superb, and this shortish novel could well persuade new readers that "literary" stuff is worth their while. I had forgotten how subtle, how grown-up Conrad's expectations of his reader are. Truly quite marvelous.

With trepidation, I splurged on the Norton edition, even though I am pretty hostile to English-Professor post-modern posturing and nonsense. I am glad I got it, however. The wealth of historical documents help make the then-contemporary setting come real. The big surprise for me was Chinua Achebe's fine essay. While "bloody racist" is still over the top, Achebe has a case of some importance, and argues it well. It is even a comfort to find that the knee-jerk responses by assorted literature professors are indeed just as much postie poo as I had expected. (It's always a pleasure to find that one's unexamined prejudices are warranted after all.)

A particular pleasure for me was talking about the book with my daughter, who has taught it to her honors high school English class. She has developed views, and I learned really quite a lot from listening to her. Book, $11.90; my time, $free; finding out your daughter has deep insight and can teach you, PRICELESS.

In short, wonderful story and useful edition.

I read this book for a graduate Humanities course. Buy this edition, it is the best with great critical essays. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, written in 1899 is a seminal work about the ills of colonialism, as well as a postmodern look at the subject of mankind. Conrad's book had a crucial influence on five important works of the twentieth century: J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough. Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Francis Ford Coppolla's movie Apocalypse Now, screenplay by John Milius, was based on Conrad's book. Another interesting fact is that this work was read by Orson Welle's Mercury Theater Players on the radio and was to be his first movie. After doing some work on it he abandoned the project to do Citizen Kane! I would have loved to of seen what Welles could have done with this story. Conrad's story is so riveting in part, because he himself served as a riverboat captain. High school teachers and college professors who have discussed this book in thousands of classrooms over the years tend to do so in terms of Freud, Jung, and Nietzsche; of classical myth, Victorian innocence, and original sin; of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism.

Just a taste of the plot reels you in! Marlow, the narrator of Heart of Darkness and Conrad's alter ego, is hired by an ivory-trading company to sail a steamboat up an unnamed river whose shape on the map resembles "an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country and its tail lost in the depths of the land" (8). His destination is a post where the company's brilliant, ambitious star agent, Mr. Kurtz, is stationed. Kurtz has collected legendary quantities of ivory, but, Marlow learns along the way, is also rumored to have sunk into unspecified savagery. Marlow's steamer survives an attack by blacks and picks up a load of ivory and the ill Kurtz; Kurtz, talking of his grandiose plans, dies on board as they travel, downstream.

Sketched with only a few bold strokes, Kurtz's image has nonetheless remained in the memories of millions of readers: the lone white agent far up the great river, with his dreams of grandeur,his great store of precious ivory, and his fiefdom carved out of the African jungle. Perhaps more than anything, we remember Marlow, on the steamboat, looking through binoculars at what he thinks are ornamental knobs atop the fence posts in front of Kurtz's house and then finding that each is "black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids-a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth" (57).

I especially became interested in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness from the movie Apocalypse Now. There is a scene in the movie that shows Colonel Kurtz's nightstand in his cave. T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land is one of three books on the nightstand. The other two are Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual to Romance, and J. G. Frazier's book The Golden Bough. Anyone wanting to understand the movie Apocalypse Now, especially the character of Colonel Kurtz, and what Milius and Copolla are trying to tell their audience need to read these three books as well as Conrad's Heart of Darkness!

As a graduate student reading in philosophy and history I recommend this book for anyone interested in literature, myth, history, philosophy, religion and fans of Apocalypse Now.

I'll be honest - "Heart of Darkness" is a great, great work of literature, but I don't love the writing style, and it is not a pleasure to read (for me at any rate).

But it is not quite as hard as its reputation, and it is every bit as important. If there is one, "Heart of Darkness" is the definitive statement on European colonialism, especially in Africa. The symbolic meaning of the story is powerful and unanswerable.

The Norton Critical Edition of any book is usually the best - (not always: with Shakespeare I generally prefer the Signet Classics, and for "Pride and Prejudice" at least the Longman Cultural Edition is the best) - and "Heart of Darkness" is no exception. Like so many other books, you haven't understood this until you've understood what has been said about it. The NCE gives the best collection of critical essays available for someone new to the book.

Let me recommend a couple of easier reads for people interested in the genre of literature about colonialism. First is Burmese Days, which is one of Orwell's better books. It is a much more literal, tangible look at the realities of colonialism, and should probably be read before "Heart of Darkness." The other is The Quiet American (Viking Critical Library), which is less critical of colonialism, but still a very good look at the motivations of various people involved. I am very critical of "The Quiet American," but it is still among the first books that anyone interested in the literature of colonialism ought to read.

Daytime scents of nightmare horrors. Man and his insane ways - bushman, postman, commoner, who to blame? Unless you are familiar with the background of this stunning novel do yourself a favor and get the Norton Critical Edition. For a century Conrad's novel has drawn raves and rage. Each is left to decide where the sanity line lies, to the right or to the left. Upriver or downriver? Riveting every page of the way.

One of the must reads in literature. Probably my favorite novel ever written. The short length is decieving. It is not a novel to be blown through without thought. The themes of this novel resonate more in our day and age than ever before. Literary greatness.

Heart of a Victim is one of those stories that you start and can't put it down. The author's bravery, bewilderment and utter disbelief of all that she is subjected to comes through with each turn of the page. You root for her, you scream for her to 'get out' and yet, you're pulled into her conflict and understand how she begins to question her own sanity. It is a relief to get to the end and have the resolution, and thank God she had the strength of will to pursue the truth.

As the truth unravels in horrible, disgusting, documented detail in court, you are as relieved as the writer must have been to find that she really did see what she saw, really did hear what she heard, and wasn't the least mentally unbalanced, but that the situation was as bad and even worse than her most feared imaginings.

Guts, honesty and faith in Christ pulls her through three years of unmitigated hell. A must read for anyone that has ever dealt with or may ever have to deal with a deranged, narcissitic personality, male or female.

L.A. Johnson
Nebraska USA (11/26/2002) We read about deranged people in the newspapers, or watch such horror stories on TV, but most of us are lucky enough not to live such nightmares first hand. The author of this true story reveals in straightforward, conversational style her front row seat on a man's madness and perversions. Rosy Latur was a lonely widow, unworldly and open hearted. She enjoyed laughing and having fun, loved her family and friends, and did her best to walk a Christian walk. She lived well, in a lovely home, and had enough money set aside to live comfortably. Sympathy for a down and out Konn Rodent soon turned to love, on Rosy's part at least. Konn is aptly named. A more deranged con artist has seldom been described in my recollection. The reader wonders very early on why on God's green earth a woman with as much going for her as Rosy would stay with such a maniac. The answer she provides is simple. Rosy loved him with all her heart, and was totally devoted to the man. As her nightmare life unfolds, and her heart and spirit sicken, the reader hopes for a happy ending to her story. Alas, that doesn't happen. Konn drains her dry of everything. Physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially, Konn leaves her in his wake like a wild tornado run amuck. He strips her pride, her hope, and leaves her nothing. The only thing that means anything to Konn is pornography and self-indulgent sexual fantasies. As his horrid world reveals itself, Rosy is at first in denial, and then shock. The husband who has no romantic interest in her lavishes himself on prostitutes and strippers. Untold thousands of dollars are spent on his perversions, while Rosy stands by hopeless to prevent it. Heart of a Victim in Harm's Way is a daunting first hand account of how pornography can kill the addict's personality and spirit. It's a sad story, made even sadder because Konn Rodent doesn't have to pay the piper in the end. Rosy pays, as do the friends and family who love her, but Konn goes on his merry way to brutalize and ruin other unsuspecting women. Personally, I don't know where Ms. Latur found the courage to survive and tell her story. I wish she would have included pictures of Konn Rodent in her book. Or maybe even posted him on the front cover for all the world to see, along with a sign saying "WARNING! If you see this man, beware.".

deb
SOUTH DAKOTA (4/10/2003) THIS WAS AND EXCELLENT BOOK, I READ IT TWICE IN THREE DAYS. I WAS RIVERTED BY THE STORY.I THINK ALL WOMEN SHOULD READ THIS BOOK,YOU WILL LEARN A HUGE LESSON IN IT. AND IT IS TRUE LOVE IS BLINDING.

DEBB
Illinois (4/10/2003) This is an excellent book.Having dealt with a somewhat, though not quite extreme, situation, it really hits the heart! I know there are thousands of women out there that would understand everything Rosy endured, and thousands more who wish they had the courage to get out too. If they read this book, it might give them the little piece of encouragement they need!

DEBB
Illinois (4/10/2003) This is an excellent book.Having dealt with a somewhat, though not quite extreme, situation, it really hits the heart! I know there are thousands of women out there that would understand everything Rosy endured, and thousands more who wish they had the courage to get out too. If they read this book, it might give them the little piece of encouragement they need!

If you like vampire romance stories, you'll likely love these. It's wonderful to see the characters mature throughout these books, plus overcome various challenges that you may not expect. I loved these!

Book 2 of the Nikki and Michael series. Books may be a little hard to find, I had to order all 4 through borders. In this one Nikki and Michael meet again while on another case, but this time there's even more tension while Nikki admits to herself she feels something for Michael, there's the fact that his vamp creator is in the same hotel. Great sequel and it is best to read all these in orders, they don't work well as stand alone.

For those who have not yet had the joy of reading a Keri Arthur novel, all I can say is that you are truly missing out. Although her first book only came out just over a year ago, she is already an award-winning author and she deserves every kudos that goes her way. HEARTS IN DARKNESS is the second book in the Nikki and Michael series. Although it can be read as a stand alone, for the best reading enjoyment, I truly think that DANCING WITH THE DEVIL should be read first.

In HEARTS IN DARKNESS, Michael and Nikki have been apart for six months. Michael believes that the only way he can overcome his bloodlust is by staying away from the one woman who brings it out in him. But when he learns from the leader of the Circle that Nikki's death is imminent unless he goes to her, he of course can't stay away.

Nikki is overjoyed to have Michael in her life again, for she knows that she will never love anyone else but Michael. She just has to convince Michael that they are better together than apart. The case they are working on has them posing as newlyweds to find out who is kidnapping wealthy men from a resort. Dark magic and a woman from Michael's past are involved in the disappearances. Nikki also has to deal with the dangers of new psychic powers emerging-when she doesn't understand how or where they are coming from. They are in for the fight of their lives.

Nikki and Michael's continuing love story is fantastic. Paranormal romance lovers shouldn't hesitate to purchase this new series. I can't wait to read CHASING THE SHADOWS, the third book in the series, which should be out later this year. Keri Arthur's books are true keepers!

Michael has been gone for six months now, Nikki has all but given up on him and is deep in another case. While following a teenager, she is attacked by several vampires, who kidnap the teen. Just as she is about to follow to Wyoming, Michael reappears, having been assigned a related case by the Circle. Apparently a number of rich men have disappeared from an exclusive resort there and when they return, they stay out of the sun and only come out at night, but aren't obviously vampires. There is something odd about them that the Circle needs clarified and eliminated.

I enjoyed this addition to the series. Michael and Nikki are very appealing characters. The villians are evil enough, and there are several twists in vampire lore to be found. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Michael has been gone for six months now, Nikki has all but given up on him and is deep in another case. While following a teenager, she is attacked by several vampires, who kidnap the teen. Just as she is about to follow to Wyoming, Michael reappears, having been assigned a related case by the Circle. Apparently a number of rich men have disappeared from an exclusive resort there and when they return, they stay out of the sun and only come out at night, but aren't obviously vampires. There is something odd about them that the Circle needs clarified and eliminated.

I enjoyed this addition to the series. Michael and Nikki are very appealing characters. The villians are evil enough, and there are several twists in vampire lore to be found. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

I have to say right away that Treasures in Darkness wasn't exactly what I expected. I knew the book was about a mother's tragic loss of her young son and by the title I assumed that she had managed to keep his memory alive by changing the world just a little. I rather expected the account of a woman who had become active in mothers against drunk drivers or started volunteering in a cancer ward in an effort to bring reason to her family's horrific loss. These would have made great touching, inspirational tales.

Treasures in Darkness, hardly mentions the feelings of the mother over her son's passing. Instead, this book is a very passionate Christian book about how the minister's wife questions God after the death of her son. The book rather reads as an intense sermon about how she questioned God but found solace in her beliefs. Though definitely not for the general public, I recommend this book to Christians who are questioning their faith after a recent tragedy. This book will give them solace that they aren't alone while encouraging them to hold onto their faith for the answers.

A couple months after my daughter died, my pastor gave me the book, A Grieving Mother Shares Her Heart: Treasures in Darkness. I read it in a couple days, finding in its pages validation for the way I was grieving and how I felt. The process that Sharon Betters had gone through mirrored my own. It helped to know that I wasn't the only one who had experienced the overwhelming heartache that comes with the loss of a child.

Then I read the book again, highlighting parts that I wanted to come back to.

As Sharon quoted extensively from the journal she wrote in the first months after her son Mark died in a car accident, I watched her struggle with God and then accept her life's circumstance. Sharon embraces God's promise of eternal life for His children. She rests in the shadow of the Almighty's arms, finding treasures of hope in the darkest moments of grief.

The hymns and Scripture she includes in the book were the same passages I had already gone to repeatedly for comfort.

I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my cry for mercy.
~ Psalm 6:6-9

I think that anyone who has experienced a significant loss can benefit from Sharon's book. She allows grief and points the reader toward healing and comfort in the Lord.

The book is also for those who want to help and minister to people who are grieving. In a chapter titled Who's Bearing Whose Burden, Sharon writes,

The challenge of Paul in Galations 6:2, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ," teaches us that God expects us to not only need each other but also reflect the love of Christ by helping each other. Grief is not a pathway we should attempt to walk alone.

She addresses what she calls "echoes of mercy" which are the little things in life that God sends our way to encourage us. Such a God of grace we have. She shows us how to get through the ugly grief and live life.

This book combines the validation of grief with the truth of Scripture.This needs to be read by anyone whose child has died whether recently or years ago.The book is an excellent resource for those who are friends of the parents and want to gain insight on the roller coaster of emotions that a parent continually goes through.

Using personal journal entries and exposing her personal struggle with God, the author demonstrates how people can deal with the agonizing heartaches of our lives. All through the book, the reader can relate to the questions and longings that many of us go through when faced with life-changing challenges. The honest and open writing helps ease the often lonely confusion that someone in grief experiences. Read the book and give it!

It is hard to put into a few words what this book is about. I am 23 years old and 10 years ago I lost my older brother. When I got done reading this book, I looked at it again and was in awe at how truly amazing it was that though she lost her son she could write in her journal and praise God like she did. I loved the book! There were many places that I related to and felt again the pain and the grief. But then there was also the hope. And that is what this book is all about. A mother's struggle but also a hope that beyond the darkness there is light and with that light you begin to find those treasures that God has laid out.

I fell in love with this series since I read my first book. And with every new volume, I'm falling in love with all the characters in the story. Amy just keep giving her all in every volume, she writes her heart in every story. And you can visualize each character in a whole new perspective after reading one volume. My first love was Kyou, the elusive demon prince, the angst king of the story but, with every new volume, I could see all the different sides of the man, and love each new sides I discovered. Then comes, Shinbe. We always picture this shaman as a happy go lucky guy, a pervert, and sometimes seems like an airhead. But after reading Defy Not The Heart, Amy had given us a chance to get a look inside the man. And as the story developed, you couldn't help but see him in a different light. His passionate side, his sincerity and devotion and yes, his undying love. He would defy anything, risk everything for love. Then here is Kotaro. The last of his race, the Lycan prince. At first, I thought he is just the tamed version of Shinbe the perv, but after reading this volume, I get to know this quiet, and wolfishly handsome man. You fall in love with all them, Amy has a gift of making an impression on you. You will get to know each character, and no matter how small their role in the adventure, you can't forget each and everyone of them. You just can't wait to get the next volume to find out what happens next, and who would you think you would fall in love this time. This is a highly recommended series, each volume can be read alone or by their series. But, each one has a story to tell. And each volume would leave a lasting impression on you. You would thirst for more. ^_^

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Title - The Guardian Heart Crystal Series 5: A Light In the Heart of Darkness
Author - Amy Fushigiyugi
ISBN # - B0019BHZ5M
Published - By Amy Blankenship
Genre - Dark Fantasy Anime Novel
Rating - Strong 5 our of 5
Reviewer Name - Nicole Harvey
Wow, What can I say about this very gifted author? Amy Blankenship caught my attention from page one. The depth of this Passionate story, full of passion, need like no other that I have every read. The fight against good and evil in this story keeps you on your toes biting your nails. I fell in love with each of the 5 protectors that fight to keep Kyoko, the Priestess of the Guardian Heart Crystal safe. The wonderful thing that this author thought of no matter what one of the bks you are reading in the series you will find that each story has her ending up with each of the 5 guardians that fight to protect her from the Evil Hyakuhei, Uncle of Toyo and Kyou.
This story started 1000 yrs in the past where Toyo is killed by his Hyakuhei because Toyo knows that his Uncle wants Kyou for his own. Toyo gives his life trying to protect his Brother in the process. Kyou comes across his Uncle, Hyakuhei right after he not only killed Toyo his brother, but also caused Kyoko to kill herself so he wouldn't be able to get the crystal. He had lost so much due to the pure evilness of his Uncle. Making a pack with fellow Guardians Kyou knows that Toyo an Kyoko will be reborn to help him and fellow guardians in the fight to conquer his Uncle.
Then she goes into the current story that will blow your minds. The way she writes in such detail of what each character goes through just blows my mind. If you are anything like me I wanted each man to have Kyoko so that no one was hurt. But that is the great thing about the way Amy Fushigiyugi writes, she gives you that option in each of the books in this series. I cried, laughed and giggled through this wonderful book. If you are looking for a well rounded story that has passion, suspense, action with a great love story then don't walk but run to buy this series of books, you wont be sorry.
Reviewed by Nicole Harvey

I discovered A Light in the Heart of Darkness through the website Shelfari.com, by meeting the author. She recommended the book to me. This is the fourth book in The Guardian Heart Series, and the I first one I read. For those who are wondering, I have been told by the author that these books don't need to be read in order all of them are stand alone novels. I would describe this book as Dark Fantasy Anime, with a dash of Romance. This was my first dip into the Anime genre and I have to say I throughly enjoyed it. It was a fast paced, exciting and suspenseful. I'd definitley recommend it. I believe any Anime fan out there would enjoy this book. It's an entertaining story with amazing graphics.

Anyone who has had to read either of these titles for school knows that teachers find a lot more in them than first meets the eye. Cliff Notes are a great way to gain insight into books and get a feel for the various interpretations. NOTE TO STUDENTS: You still have to read the book, folks. This just helps you understand it.

Reviewing CliffsNotes on Conrad's Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer is an excellent way to delve into the novel before reading the novel. Cliffsnotes provides background information about the author Joseph Conrad and summative narratives of the book.

Cliffsnotes helps the reader understand the plot and subplots of the novel as well as a hint about the motives of the characters involved in the conflict.

This Cliff Notes guide provides a clear and concise analysis and discussion of the famous Conrad short novel. The author discusses Conrad's personal background as it relates to the story, and the characters, themes, plot elements, the social and cultural views and philosophy of the author, and many other aspects of the book in an easy to understand way.

Conrad is one of the few novelists, which include Melville, Tolstoy, Dostoevski, Lawrence Stern, and Jonathan Swift, whose work continues to impress me and has aged well as I've moved into my more mature years. Partly this is because of the dark themes he treats, such as the violence and cruelty and savagery lurking just below the thin veneer of civilization, the brooding and melancholy power of his prose, and partly because English wasn't even his native language--he even learned it as an adult on shipboard.

Heart of Darkness is one Conrad's shortest but greatest works in this sense, and after having read it in high school, I recently reacquainted myself with it after 30 years. I was just as impressed as I was back then. Most readers and movie fans will know the story's influence on Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," which is many ways a tribute to the Conrad book. This is a great book by one of history's greatest authors whose themes continue to resonate today. All an observant and intelligent individual has to do today to realize that Conrad was right about man's innermost nature and that we have not progressed at all in the last 10,000 years of "civilized history" is to look at the current sad state of the world and of humanity in general.

I could not stand reading or watching anything about Vietnam for about 10 years. I eventually watched the movie " Apocalypse Now" I found it interesting but it did not relate to anything in the central highlands. Later I saw "Pork Lips Now" and could relate this to the movie. Finally someone told me that the whole thing was based on "Heart of Darkness " ISBN: 0486264645. So I decided to read the book. I found it fascinating and much better than the movie. However I could not see the forest of the trees and needed some help in showing me what I was looking at. Because I was not in some school class, I turned to the "Cliffs Notes" Of course my views don't match the notes exactly but they gave me some questions to ask and showed me the forest. The notes include:

· Life of the Author

· Introductions to the Novel

· Lists of Characters

· Brief Plot Synopses

· Summaries & Critical Commentaries

· Critical Essay

· Suggested Essay Topics

· Selected Bibliography

Later I found a movie that was much closer to the original story,

"Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" (1988)

Three of Marvel's most violent anti-heroes (Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and Punisher)unite to take on Blackheart, the son of the devil (Mephisto), in this well written, and severly underrated, Marvel graphic novel.

This story does a great job of discussing the role of good and evil in vigilantism; forcing the protagonists to question whether they've crossed that line with their actions.

A great read for any fan of these three heroes. It also introduces Blackheart as a credible and intriguing villain.

for those expecting a longer story for your money stay away
but if you want a quick read (...) by all means get this it really good and john romita jr is an awesome penciller but i suggest getting it cuz they have it for a dollar or go to you local comic shop they
might have it in a bargain bin or for under $3

Personally, I consider this graphic novel to be the best thing to come out of Marvel Comics in the modern era. It is a morality play- and a very good one.

The action takes place in Christ's Crown, a sleepy midwestern town. It is here that Blackheart, son of Mephisto, heir to the throne of hell is reborn on our plane. It is also here that he decides to both depose, and surpass, his father. His strategy is to tempt and corrupt the new breed of hero- those that walk the razor's edge between Light and Darkness in the service of justice.

To do this he summons Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and Punisher to town. He does this with notes that promise them secret information on what they desire most. Unfortunately, for him, he has misjudged the men that he has summoned. When they all automatically reject his offer of unlimited power in the service of Darkness, Blackheart then resorts to corrupting the entire town to use against them. Here he makes one fatal mistake when abducts the one innocent, uncorrupted soul in town- and spills her blood while doing so. The heroes fight their way into the heart of Hell itself to rescue the little girl....

As Ghost Rider states in the story: It doesn't matter if there is an edge, or if we occasinally cross it. As long as the innocent are protected, our cause is just.

The 1991 edition is printed on first class paper in brilliant color. There is an excellent four-panel folding dioramic cover.

Three of marvel's darkest heros are tempted by Mephisto's son. The deal: the power to win all of their battles and the answers to the secrets they obsess over if only they cross the line. Oh, and by the way they'll get the chance to kill Mephisto himself.

The only thing missing is "the nigger of the Narcisscus", but you can't have everything. As complex as "the heart of Darkness" is, you may be better served by starting this book with "The end of the Tether", it is great in its apparent simplicity, yet it has its own complexity.

Make sure you read the short story "Youth," as well as the "Heart of Darkness." Both are super, and youth is worth it for the following lines alone:

"And there was somewhere in me that thought: By jove! This is the deuce of an adventure--something you read about; and it is my first voyage as second mate--and I am only twenty--and here I am lasting it out as well as any of these men, and keeping my chaps up to the mark. I was pleased. I would not have given up the experience for worlds. I had moments of exultation. Whenever the old dismantled craft pitched heavily with her counter high in the air, she seemed to me to throw up, like an appeal, like a defiance, like a cry to the clouds without mercy, the words written on her stern: "Judea, London. Do or Die."

O youth! The strength of it, the faith of it, the imagination of it! To me she was not an old rattle-trap caring about eh world a lot of coal for a freight--to me she was the endeavour, the test, the trail of life. I think of her with pleasures, with affection, with great--as you would think of someone dead you have loved. I shall never forget her...pass the bottle."

Conrad is the master tale- teller of English Literature. In this volume three stories, from three Ages of Life are included. The first 'Youth'is about a maiden vogage to sea, and the last "The End of the Tether" about an old man in his blindness. The story however which has been most written and thought about, and is considered one of Conrad's masterpieces is " Heart of Darkness".
It begins as a meditative reflection, a telling on the banks of the Thames to his friends by the veteran seaman Marlowe of a tale of exploration and disaster. He tells of a voyage into the heart of Africa in search of an enlightened European adventurer and merchant Kurtz . Kurtz has dealt in the deepest part of the jungle in trading in ivory. But what Marlowe comes to discover and see is someone who has seen into ' the heart of darkness' and dies crying out ,"The Horror, the Horror". Marlowe returns to Europe and civilization and tells Kurtz's fiancee that Kurtz's last words were her name.
But the tale is more than the story or the plot. With Conrad the meaning of the tale is the creation of the atmosphere and the meditation on the voyage throughout .It is in a kind too of bringing us into another whole mode of being in thinking about our lives.
" The heart of darkness" to the uncivilized African reality and it refers to the deepest recesses of the human soul, a soul which crosses through and transcends continents.As Conrad's great Literature does.

I first read "Youth" in my own youth, over 25 years ago. It has haunted me ever since. That it is difficult to describe why is, I believe, more a testament to Conrad's subtle skills than to my own undoubted incompetance as an expositor. On one level, "Youth" is little more than a tale of a ill-fated sea voyage, but its poignancy is unmatched by any work of short fiction I've ever come across. Good or bad, pleasant or horrific, our youth is what we all miss. The inclusion of this great novella and the magically exotic "End of the Tether" ought to be more than justification enough to buy this book--even if it didn't also include the justly famous, if sometimes obscure, "Heart of Darkness". No one should think he or she is familiar with Joseph Conrad who has not read all of these three wonderful tales. (If you can find a collection that also includes "The Nigger of Narcissus," even better.)

I read all six books in the series in six nights! I couldn't put them down! Months later, I read them again. There are so many insightful messages in them, I didn't want to forget anything! I love this book and have purchased it as a gift for many of my friends! This book and all the books in Gates' series are a fabulous collection of loving messages from spirit. They contain timeless reminders of why we're here on this earth and how we can fill our lives with genuine love, courage, hope and wisdom. With clarity and honesty, Gates discusses everything from how to love and be loved to the life of the soul. Quick to read but deep in meaning.

Gates' books provide the reader with the basic blueprint on how to approach and react to what life hands them on a daily basis. The books are the contemporary Tao, covering a wide range of thought-provoking topics. This constellation of books does not provide easy or final answers. Rather, in reading them you will bring down the spiritual light-and find your own answers within.

Madeline Mahoney is an ordinary small-town teenager absorbed in boys and her appearance, embarrassed by being the daughter of the town sheriff, and perpetually annoyed by her brother Skip. She's also deeply devoted to her Christian faith, and wishes handsome Brian Coulter would pay attention to her.

Madeline's crush on Brian leads her into an encounter with a witches' coven led by her friend Lynette's mother, Dian. Madeline agrees to try casting a romantic love spell to win Brian's affections, although the idea of witchcraft makes her uncomfortable even as she begins to raise questions about her faith in her church youth group. But soon Madeline's faith faces an unusual test as a series of tragedies befalls the community of Yokut Springs.

When demons appear, Madeline and Brian, who in typical teenage-hero fashion can't communicate the problem to adults, take action to save the community and its members.

In true Christian spirit, the most ordinary person (much like the Biblical Jonah) has the most power. Madeline rises to the occasion, confronting the demons' evil. She makes a terrific role model for today's teens.

I just recently read the book Deeds of Darkness by Marilyn Meredith and it was great. She described everything so well that I felt as though I was playing the part of Madeline, the main character. This is truly a great book. I have read many of her books and they have all been great but this one makes you feel like you can't put it down, but so do the rest of her books. It is just so full of excitement and thrill. You don't read too many mystery books that have Christian characters. Teenagers seem to find real intrest in this book. Because they are as powerful as adults. Once you start to read this book before you know it, it will be over.